October 31, 2015

Yairo (lit. eight colors) is the name of a place in Minami-Uonuma city that is famous for producing high-quality watermelons. Yairo also produces shiitake with thick fleshy caps, called Yairo Shiitake, as I previously mentioned here.

Tenkeiko is the name of the new variety of shiitake mushroom that was released on November 11, 2014. One obvious characteristic is its very large size, which can be up to 15 cm in diameter.

Thus, Yairo Tenkeiko is the name of the large-size shiitake mushroom that is produced in Yairo, Minami-Uonuma City. I learned about this new variety from a famous TV show, Manten Aozora Restaurant (Japanese only).

Luckily, I happen to live in that city, and I can get this new variety fairly easily at a supermarket, although I find it rather expensive.

運よく、私は、南魚沼市に住んでいるので、スーパーでかなり簡単に入手することができます。ちょっと値段が高いと思いますが。

The other day, of all the bags sold at the supermarket, I deliberately selected this one:

先日、スーパーで売られている袋の中から、私は慎重にこの袋を選びました：

Two large ones and one small one.
大きいのが２つに、小さいのが１つ。

I first cooked one large one for my son, who is a kind of a mushroom freak. Simply wrapped in aluminum foil and grilled in the toaster oven.
まずは、大きいのを一つ、ちょっとキノコおたくっぽい息子に調理しました。ただアルミホイルで包み、オーブントースターで焼いただけです。

My son said it was very good. He didn't even need soy sauce or lemon juice to enjoy having it.
息子はとても美味しいと言っていました。しょう油やレモン果汁も使わずに、楽しんでいました。

***
Yesterday, I got another bag in an attempt to come up with a recipe to submit to a mushroom recipe contest. I can't talk about the recipe until the results of the contest are released.
昨日は、きのこレシピコンテストに応募するレシピを考えようと、もう一袋、買いました。コンテストの結果が発表されるまでは、そのレシピについては語れません。

October 30, 2015

Wild mukitake (left) and wild enoki (right). He bought them at the shopping center near JR Muikamachi Station.

天然のムキタケと天然のエノキです。JR六日町駅近くのショッピングセンターで買ったものです。

I put them in the vegetable compartment of the fridge. My son and I discussed what to do with these wild mushrooms.

My son's request:

One-third of the enoki: Ohitashi

Rest of the enoki and half of the mukitake: Osuimono (clear soup)

Other half the mukitake: Bacon maki (mukitake wrapped in bacon and grilled)

冷蔵庫の野菜室に入れました。息子とこれら天然のきのこをどうするか話し合いました。

息子のリクエスト：

1/3（さんぶんのいち）のエノキ： おひたし

残りのエノキと半分のムキタケ： お吸い物

もう半分のムキタケ： ベーコン巻（ベーコンを巻いて、焼く）

Today, I rinsed them under running water. I was really glad they were very clean and required little cleaning.

今日は、流水で洗いましたが、とてもきれいで、ほとんどきれいにする必要がなくて、嬉しかったです。

Wild enoki (short for enokitake or enokidake)

天然のエノキ（エノキタケ、エノキダケの略）

Other names include yuki no shita (lit. under snow) and ashi guro (lit. leg/foot black). One characteristic of this mushroom is that the stem near the root is blackish. As you can see, wild enoki is completely different from the cultured.
他には、ユキノシタ、アシグロなどと言います。このきのこの特徴の一つは、根元が黒っぽいことです。見てわかる通り、天然のエノキは栽培品とはまったく異なります。

Wild mukitake
天然のムキタケ

I first boiled one-third of the enoki in a pot of boiling water for 3 minutes or so to make ohitashi.

最初に、1/3のエノキを沸騰したお湯で３分程度煮て、おひたしを作りました。

Then, without changing the water, I boiled the rest of the enoki and one half of the mukitake in the pot for 3 minutes or so. The water turned yellowish, suggesting that it contained a lot of "dashi" (lit. broth) from the mushrooms. I didn't want to throw away the goodies, so I hit upon a good idea: strain the water to remove the worms. I found some (ten or so) tiny worms in the paper towel after straining. Then, I returned the mushrooms to the pot.

Then, I added 3 tsp of instant dashi and 1 tsp of salt, brought the water to a boil again, and poured 3 large beaten eggs slowly. The amount of water was about 1,800 ml.
次に、出汁の素を小さじ３、塩を小さじ１入れて、また沸騰させて、Lの卵を３個溶いて、ゆっくりと入れました。お湯の量は約1,800 mlです。
I wrapped the rest of the mukitake in bacon. I made seven pieces of "bacon maki" in total, three for my wife, daughter, and myself and four for my son.
残りのムキタケはベーコンで巻き、全部でベーコン巻を７個作りました。３つは妻、娘、私用、４つは息子用です。

Grilled in the 1000W toaster oven for 10 minutes.

1000Wのオーブントースターで10分焼きました。

Osumashi (clear soup)

I grilled the four bacon maki later, after my son came home at 8 o'clock in the evening.

４つのベーコン巻は、後で、息子が８時に帰って来てから、焼きました。

My son had the ohitashi with ponzu only. I would have it with katsuobushi and ponzu.
息子は、おひたしをポン酢だけで食べました。私なら、鰹節とポン酢で食べます。

October 29, 2015

Snow dumping site on the bed of the Uono River.
Photo taken on the day of Nogu Ichi (Farm Tool Market) here in the Minami-Uonuma region. The day on which the winter is supposed to end here in this snowy region.
魚野川の河川敷にある雪堆積場。
南魚沼地域の農具市の日に撮った写真。ここ雪国で冬が終わると言われている日です。

May 4
5/4

Snow dumping site. The snow is completely gone. Here in this snowy region, farming usually starts in May.
雪堆積場。雪は完全に消えています。ここ雪国では、農業は通常、５月に始まります。

My rented field at the center of the photo.
写真の中央に、私が借りている畑。

I'm a minimalist in many ways, so I just took with me these two tools (hoe and sickle), a pair of gloves, a PET bottle of water (to quench my thirst, naturally), a bag of organic limes, and another bag of chemical fertilizers. Each bag contains just enough amount for the size of the field.
私は色んな面でミニマリスト（必要最低限の物しか持たない）ので、持って行ったのは、道具２つ（鍬と鎌）、手袋、水の入ったPETボトル（もちろん、のどの渇きを抑えるため）、有機石灰の入った袋、化学肥料の入った袋だけです。それぞれの袋には、畑の大きさにちょうど合った量だけ入れました。

Forgot to mention that I had previously carried several bags of cattle manure to the field.
牛ふん堆肥は数袋、すでに畑に運んでおきました。

Done!
完了！

It took me 2-3 hours for this work, if I remember correctly.
記憶が確かなら、この作業に２～３時間かかりました。

May 6
5/6
Road to the field.
畑までの道。

Lots and lots of kogomi (ostrich fern) on the river bed,
河川敷には、こごみがいっぱいありますが、

overgrown and not good to eat.
大きくなり過ぎで、食べれません。

Sweet potato seedlings.
サツマイモの苗です。

I planted them in two rows in a single une (ridge).
一つの畝（うね）に二列に植えました。

I planted other seedlings (kabocha, potato, and cherry tomato) in the field.
畑には、他の苗（かぼちゃ、じゃがいも、ミニトマト）も植えました。

Note that the light truck in the photo above is not mine. I walk or bike to the field.

October 28, 2015

Someone ordered a Shigefusa kitaeji 210-mm wa gyuto with a saya from Yoshizawa Riko through me in November last year, and he waited impatiently for almost one year until it reached him this October. He kindly sent me these photos, along with some comments and questions.

On October 9, I hung some of the astringent persimmons given from my father to dry. This time, I hung them indoors to keep them from getting moldy and keep out insects.
10/9、父からもらった渋柿の一部を干しました。今回は、かびないよう、虫が来ないよう、室内で干しました。

I reached there a little after nine in the morning, and found that the site was already crowded with people. I later learned that there were 211 participants. The workshop began at 9:30.
午前９時ちょっと後に着いたのですが、会場はすでに混み合っていました。後で、参加者は211人もいたことが分かりました。講習会は9:30に始まりました。

Most of the participants went into the mountains nearby, while some took a bus offered by the organizer to go to another mountain. As for me, I decided not to go far into the mountains nearby, and spent most of my time just walking around in the fields.
参加者の多くは近くの山に入り、主催者が用意したバスで他の山に行く参加者もいました。私は、近くの山の奥まで入るのは止め、野原を歩き回るのに時間を費やしました。

I found a very large number of blackish mushrooms on the lawn.
芝生に黒っぽいきのこがすごく沢山生えていました。

I later found they were shibafu uba no kasa. Not poisonous but not good to eat.
後でシバフウバノカサだと分かりました。毒きのこではありませんが、食べても美味しくないそうです。

I also found some puffballs and hedgehog mushrooms, and that was all. I really wasn't in the mood for mushroom hunting in the first place. Besides, the instructor declared in the opening session that the mushroom hunting season was already over this year (and the season for late fall mushrooms would begin soon).
ホコリタケとカノシタを少し見つけましたが、それで終わりです。元々、あまりきのこ採りをする気もありませんでした。それに、開会式で講師は「今年のきのこのシーズンはもう終わった（そして晩秋のきのこのシーズンがまもなく始まる）とおっしゃていました。

The instructor had collected a variety of mushrooms, both edible and poisonous, to show them in this workshop. Mushrooms whose names are written in red, black, and green are poisonous, not poisonous but not good to eat, and edible and good to eat.
講師は、講習会で見せるきのこ（毒きのこも食用きのこも）採取してきました。名前が赤、黒、緑で書かれたきのこは、それぞれ、毒きのこ、毒ではないが美味しくないきのこ、食用で美味しいきのこです。

The bottom center one is doku sasako.
下の中央のはドクササコです。

Caterpillar fungus with its host, stink bug:
冬虫夏草とその宿主（カメムシ）：

Buna shimeji:
ブナシメジ：

My son hopes to find this wild mushroom some day.
息子はいつかこの野生のきのこを見つけたいと思っています。

I did learn a great deal from the workshop. At lunchtime, the participants were offered mushroom soup.
この講習会で沢山のことを学びました。昼には、参加者にはきのこ汁が振る舞われました。

Surprisingly, we were offered second helping. Very generous!
驚いたことに、お代わりももらえました。気前がいい！

What's more, a lottery was held!
その上、抽選会も行われました！

My number: 70
私の番号： 70

I got these:
これをもらいました。

One pack each of buna shimeji and nameko.

ブナシメジとナメコを１袋づつ。

***

On this day, I left home well in advance, at 6:30, and went to see this artwork first.